1,342 hogs culled, ASF rages in six barangays
INFECTION TRACED FROM BULACAN
THE culling operations in six barangays of Pangasinan as of January 28 already led to the killing of 1,342 hogs infected by African Swine Fever (ASF) and more are expected to be culled in these areas.
Dr. Jovito Tabarejos, assistant provincial veterinarian, said out of the 1,342 culled hogs, 357 were in Barangay Cabeldatan, Basista; 307 in San Isidro, Binmaley; 21 in Linoc, Binmaley; 395 in Apaya, Malasiqui; and 283 in Pulong Sur, Malasiqui.
Culling was postponed in Barangay Carael, Dagupan City after the backhoe that was about to prepare a common graveyard for dead pigs was stoned by residents.
Dr. Florentino Adame, chief of the regulatory division of the Bureau of Animal Industry of Department of Agriculture Field Regional Office 1, said the hog owners and residents protested the planned culling and invoked the need for the consent of the city government to proceed with it.
Adame told the Talakayan sa Kapitolyo, that the fresh ASF outbreak in Pangasinan, was traced to slaughtered pigs brought into Barangay Apaya from Bulacan.
This infection of healthy pigs in Barangay Apaya affected hogs in adjacent Barangay Pulong, Malasiqui where two hogs were bought for a wedding in Barangay Linoc in Binmaley.
Linoc is adjacent to Barangay Carael in Dagupan City.
Tabarejos said the hogs that raised with the one-kilometer radius of the ASF infected area had to be culled while owners of hogs within the seven-kilometer radius were ordered not to move their hogs.
Hogs within the 10-kilometer radius are strictly monitored.
Adame said Pangasinan is the only province in the region affected by ASF as he warned that continued butchering of hogs in illegal slaughterhouses is also one of the causes of the spread of ASF in the province.
He also called on hog raisers not to feed their pigs with leftovers dumped by restaurants and households.
Meanwhile, Adame said the indemnification fund from DA for owners of hogs depopulated in Barangay Baloling, Mapandan, numbering 276, including an unspecified number of hogs in Bayambang is now available at P5,000 per hog.
Governor Amado Espino III is also giving P1,000 per hog culled as financial assistance to hog raisers. (Leonardo Micua)
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
